Eric Silagy, outgoing CEO of Florida Power & Light Co., signed an exit agreement that includes a multi-year "claw back on compensation" if there is a finding of "any legal wrongdoing," according to a report written by Bank of America securities analysts, who discussed the abrupt departure of the company's longtime leader with top executives last week, revealing previously unknown details about the latest management shakeup at one of the America's largest power companies.
Those analysts had expressed concern with the unexpected announcement and downgraded their outlook on shares of NextEra, FPL's parent company, with investors finding the impending retirement of Silagy, 57, "rushed" and difficult to separate from recent controversies, including allegations made in a Federal Election Commission complaint that the company violated campaign-finance laws. The bank analysts then hosted NextEra executives in Boston and New York last week to talk through Silagy's exit and other uncertainties the analysts had with the company's future, a conversation that left them "with more comfort that there is not 'another shoe to drop,'" according to a second report they wrote.
"The FEC process is currently informal and is confidential, so the risk of media updates is low," wrote the analysts, who nonetheless did not change their more bearish assessment of NextEra's stock.
Read the rest of this story at the Florida Times-Union, a WJCT News partner.